Are you with me? C3 here I come...with simplicity in mind

I'm so excited to be hosting a session at the upcoming Litmos C3 conference in Las Vegas. In most cases, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...however, if you attend my session, the goal is take what happens in Vegas back to the office. (However, if you make a pit stop on the casino floor, I won't tell.)

Here is what I'm excited about...simplicity. Now, perhaps Las Vegas is not the perfect example of simplicity in motion, but it still makes for a great backdrop. I'll tell you why. While simplicity in learning design is critical for the modern day workforce, so is engagement and excitement. Vegas, Baby!

This dude? His struggle is real. We feel it, we recognize it - we even want to grab the jar and help.

Too often, L&D confuses simplicity with "dumbing down." Simplicity in learning is about providing the humans we work with, the tools to get the job done in the most effective fashion, becoming critical to reach the true need. Our jobs as corporate educators is to help to solve a problem that actually exists, not one that might exist.

It's time to re-examine how learning is delivered in the workplace. The tools we use to bring necessary training to the workforce is under a microscope. Simplicity is the call of the day. It is time to turn our eye to modalities that can simplify the learning process. Blended, flipped and micro.

"More and more it seems that simple is our nemesis. If the solution is simple; it can’t work, it won’t be transferable and therefore it cannot be measured. Simple can work and it should be our #1 criteria for training execution."

During our time together, we will examine each of these modalities and come up with new ideas to make them work within your organizations. What are the differences, what are some best practices, what are others doing that we can blatantly steal? It takes a village to change a paradigm. We'll discuss frameworks and templates to help along the way.

By the numbers

Rapid, simple development will be critical to health of your learning organization. Here are some numbers to wet your palette.

Technology knowledge turnover is 2.5 years. The life of your technical knowledge is very short. Skills will be obsolete before you finish your next software implementation. (As well as its operating system). We no longer have the luxury of time on our sides to create learning that has minimal impact, to which we have to go back to the drawing board. Hamster wheel anyone?

The digital skills gap today cost businesses $1.3 TRILLION dollars in lost productivity. Yep, that trillion with a T. People spend upward to 21% looking for how to do their jobs in your LMS, on your intranet, or within SharePoint, this is wasted time. Wasted time equals wasted productivity dollars. Dollars that if weren’t wasted, could be used to create more job-related support items.

We still spend far.too.long. creating stuff that will be obsolete the moment it’s published. ATD estimates we spend anywhere from 43 – 185 development hours for one hour worth of training. Conservatively. I'm thinking we may not be taking a simple approach to design thinking.

Ready to have your mind blown?

The training we create impacts fewer than 15% of the participants. (Grovo Bite-Sized Learning White Paper, pg 6). Yes, you read that right. Fewer than 15% say they actually apply the learning into their day to day. Now we are not just wasting other peoples time, we are wasting our time too. Wouldn't you rather be creating something that has an impact? I would. Simplicity over complexity, needed support over "just-in-case" training - that's the call of the day. The call of our time together.

Don't get me wrong. Simple is not easy. It takes work and thought to create simplicity. Taking a cumbersome instructor-led session, getting it to simplicity in motion and ensuring the exchange of knowledge is something not to take lightly. It is time to move from theory to application and using blended, flipped and micro.

So join me, at 8:45am on September 20. Bring your GIANT coffee and let's get our simplicity groove on.

About Shannon Tipton

As owner of Learning Rebels, Shannon Tipton knows what it takes for businesses to get real results from their training departments. Having spent over 20 years developing successful learning strategies and infrastructures, Shannon has helped businesses to realize their full potential.
Shannon utilizes her extensive real-world expertise and integrates 21st century learning technologies and microlearning tools that drive workplace alignment, enhance collaboration and increase learning connectivity.
Shannon's book, "Disruptive Learning,” is known in the business industry as an innovative workplace learning strategy resource. As a result, Shannon has been named as one of eLearning’s Top 100 Movers and Shakers. Her blog, “Learning Rebels” is also in the top 100 eLearning blogs and can be found at learningrebels.com.